Memorial Weekend

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend! I'm heading to Indiana once again for a memorial for my grandfather and to stay with my grandmother for a week or two. We seem to be making some progress with the help of some grief counselors. I'm a bit worried that I am not able to make beads, but have accepted the fact that I need to be doing something else right now!

Hessler Turn Out

We had great weather for the Hessler Street Festival (until the very end when it rained)! Fun was had by all and while I wasn't able to get a henna tattoo, I did pick up a way cool patchwork belt!

Everyone loved my new designs and so I'm going to be busy making more before the next show at Legacy Village.

I also had a good week with my grandmother and will be heading back to see her over Memorial weekend.

Heading to Indiana

I'm hitting the road to go stay with my grandmother for a week. I'll be back for the Hessler Street Fair, hope you can stop by to say 'hi'. In the mean time, I don't think I'll be able to check email while I'm gone so don't take it personally if I don't reply in my usual 'timely' manner:).

Postcards are Mailed!

It's taken me most of the week, but I have labeled and mailed postcards to all 650 people on my mailing list! The postcard contains info about the TV show and the shows I'll be participating in this summer. If you don't receive a postcard and would like one, email me!

TV Show

I found out today that my segment on the HGTV show Crafters Coast to Coast will air on Thursday, June 9th at noon and again at 5pm! It is episode #253 and the producer said to check the HGTV website closer to the date to make sure it would still air on the 9th. Apparently, sometimes the network has to make a schedule change and the shows get bumped back.

I'm excited about seeing the show, but nervous too because they made me do some REALLY silly things.....

Gallery Opening

The gallery opening for several of the artists that will be featured on the HGTV show Crafters Coast to Coast was a big success! I'm going to call the producers today to find out when my air date will be. More soon.

Gallery Show Opens this Saturday

Have I mentioned that I'm going to be on TV again? There is a show called Crafters Coast to Coast that airs on HGTV and the producers came to Cleveland in February to follow about 20 artists. I'm not sure when my segment will air, but they said probably during the month of May. I'll post a note as soon as I find out!

Several of the artists that will be featured on the show are participating in a gallery show in Lakewood that opens this Saturday May 7th. I'm taking earrings, pendants, aliens, and mermaid necklaces to the gallery Friday and there will be an opening Saturday from 12-6pm (I'll be there for a couple of hours on Saturday too). The gallery info is below and the show will run the month of May. Hope to see you!

Local Girl Gallery
16106 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
Phone (216)-228-1802 www.localgirlgallery.com
Hours T-W-TH 12-5 pm & F-S 12-6 pm

Unexpected Visitors

Well, I had grand plans to get a lot of work done in the studio yesterday until I received a call from a cousin of mine that was coming through the Cleveland area and looking for a place to sleep. So we had to drop all our plans and frantically clean the house instead! We finished about 30 minutes before they arrived..whew! So, now that I don't have to clean for awhile, I'm off to make beads :)

getting out of the funk

Last night I attended a Hot Rods meeting (the local chapter of the International Society of Glass Bead Makers). There was a lot of torching going on and a lot of eating and laughter:). It helped me start to get out of my funk and I've been cleaning up my studio today. I haven't done any fusing in a LONG time and have been literally dusting off my equipment to get some things ready to fuse. I've had this wonderful large platter mold that I've never used! So this summer I'm going to try to make some fused serving platters....this could be interesting:)

Hi

Thanks for all your kind words about my grandfather's passing. He was an incredible person and will be greatly missed.

I've finished teaching the health, illness, and social behavior course for CWRU so now I'm going to wrap up a few revisions on my dissertation and turn that in ASAP! With both of those things off my plate I will turn to working on articles to submit from my dissertation and my glass work.

We've updated the show listings on my website and there may be a few more we'll add as I hear if I've been accepted. I'm looking forward to seeing you all this summer!

Sad News

My 93 year old grandfather passed away this weekend. It's just heartbreaking as I'm sure many of you know. I'll probably be out of commission for a few days. Talk to you soon.

Show Today

Today I participated in a small art show in the atrium of University Hospital. I received a wonderful response from customers regarding my new work! Believe it or not, I really do listen to you! The pendants on silk cords were popular as well as earrings and wine stoppers! I need to get to the studio and make more beads!!

What would you like to see?

I really enjoy questions from customers and fellow lampworkers about my work. Many times the questions are about specific techniques. I'm wondering if people would like to see me put some tutorials up on the web site. They could either be with still photos or an actual video you could download. What do you think?

We don't have a video camera, so we would probably have to charge a small fee for videos in order to pay off the video camera. Would that be a problem?

Thanks for your input!

Job Offer!

Well, believe it or not I actually received a job offer yesterday! It was for a visiting professor position at Miami University. Fear not, I ended up turning it down because it would mean moving this summer and then most likely moving again next summer and it's just too disruptive. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to turn it down!

Sun!

Hi Everyone,

I just have to say that the past few days have been so lovely in Cleveland! We've seen the sun most of the day and it's been really warm! Ahhhh...

I'm back from my quick trip to see my neices and parents in Columbus and am now working on the few additions to my dissertation that my committee asked for. I'm hoping to finish it up in a couple weeks and turn it in. I will officially graduate in August. YEAH!

I'm going to be in a small show at University Hospitals this Thursday, April 21st from 10-2pm. I am one of about 6 artists that will be selling in the atrium that day. Feel free to stop by if you are in the area! I'll be posting the dates and times of outdoor shows I'll be doing soon (I'm still waiting to hear from a few).

Hello from Columbus

Hi there,

I came down to Columbus, OH today to visit my nieces, Olivia & Chloe. I'm teaching Olivia (10 years old) how to post a blog:). She thought a blog was a new alien bead I had made...

I'll post a picture of them tomorrow.

Katy

Ahhhhh....

Hi Everyone,

Well, I think I've recovered a bit from yesterday and sure do feel a huge weight has been lifted!! I've mostly been cleaning the house, which has been neglected for a while. But, now I'm off to make beads! Can't wait to start working on all the things I've been thinking about and just haven't had the time to work on.

stay tuned:)

I passed!

Hi Everyone!

Well, it's all over and I passed the defense! My presentation lasted about 35 minutes and then there was about an hour of questions. After that, the committee asked everyone to leave and sat behind closed doors deciding my fate. After about 20 minutes they opened the door and said Congrats! You've passed! whew.

I don't think it's hit me yet....maybe I need to sleep for a few days:)

Hi

HI Everyone,

Thought I would post more pictures of beads. This set is really fun to make because I love twisting hot glass:).

This will be short today since I need to practice my presentation to defend my dissertation tomorrow!

Future

Good morning!

So since it looks like I'll be graduating in August, we have been assuming we would be leaving the Cleveland area. I have been interviewing for faculty positions but have not been selected for those positions thus far. It seems that the combination of not having already completed my Ph.D. along with the fact that I have only been applying to positions in states that we want to move to (e.g., NM, AZ, OR, WA, NY, CA, FL) has made the job search more difficult.

So it looks like we'll be staying in Cleveland for another year and I'll be back on the job market this August. At first it was really difficult for me to accept the fact that I'll have to survive another winter in Cleveland and I kept thinking that I've been working on a degree for 8 years just to be unemployed. But, the interesting part is that now I'm in a situation to actually see if my beads can support me. This is something I've never even allowed myself to consider.

I've been applying to any show I can find and hope to have enough shows lined up to bring in some funds to pay the bills.

I'll keep you posted on my journey :)